Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 | Isaiah 61:10-63:9 | Matthew 28:16-20

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Nitazvim
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Nitzavim

1. In Deuteronomy 30 the Hebrew verb shuv ("to return") appears approximately four times. Why does the Torah feel the need to be so repetitive? What does this teach?

Nick Amic

In chapter 30 of this week's parasha we find a few very intriguing ideas. To begin, verse 3 in Hebrew reads veshav Hashem Eloqekha et shevutekha, and is usually translated: "then, the Lord, your God, will bring back your exiles." Rashi, the quintessential grammarian, asks why the word veshav is not in the causal form (i.e. vehoshiv, as in "He will return"), as one would expect. He concludes that although a plain reading of the verse should be rendered as "God will bring back the exiles," literally it could be read as "God will return." Rashi continues:

Our Rabbis learned from [the conjugation of the verb] here that it alludes to God himself returning . . . that the Shekhina resides among Israel, as it were, in all the misery of their exile, and when the Jews are redeemed . . . he himself returns along with Israel's exiles" (b. Megilla 29a)

In other words, though Israel was ejected from her land, and from God's blessings, God went with her into exile. We see this idea expressed by the Psalmist who writes:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to Heaven, you are there, and if I make my resting place in Sheol, behold you are there.

Psalm 139:7-8

What does this mean for us? No matter how deep we think we are, how far out we seem to be, how distant from our Creator we find ourselves; not only is he accessible, but he, in fact, is there with us! This should free us up to realize that returning to God is not "black or white", "all or nothing", "sinner or saint". We take steps to him and he comes closer to us. So what do we return to anyway?

"Sin," or chet in Hebrew, literally means "missing" (as in something missing its target, e.g. see Judges 20:16; compare with Paul's midrash of this idea in Romans 3:23). So when we sin we lose the opportunity to reach our potential, and when we make teshuva we return to our own spiritual potential. God has faith, as it were, and allows us another shot, another chance to reach the potential he created us for. It's as if he's saying, "I believe in you so much, and I'll give you another chance." May we all merit to reach our spiritual potential this coming year.

2. What does this week's Torah portion have to do with Covenant Renewal, and what is our obligation to this covenant?

Joshua Brumbach

This week's Torah portion, Nitzavim, is spoken to the entirety of the Jewish people. What is unique about this parasha is that it is spoken not just to those physically present at that moment but to the entirety of the Jewish people in every generation.  Moses is calling the Jewish people to covenant renewal - to renew the commitment made by the previous generation to walk in the ways of God and to observe his commandments. It is interesting to keep in mind that when Moses is echoing this, it is a different generation than those who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and originally experienced the receiving of the Torah.  This was the following generation, listening to Moses at the end of his life (according to tradition, this instruction was on the last day of his life). Yet, Moses speaks to them as though they are the original generation, beginning, "Today you are standing, all of you, before the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy 29:9).

Why does Moses do this? Because to God there is no difference. The entirety of the Jewish people entered into a covenant relationship with God at Mount Sinai - not just that generation, but every generation of Jews to forever follow. How can that be?  Because, "I am not making this covenant and this oath only with you. Rather, I am making it both with those who are standing here with us today before the LORD our God and also with those who are not here with us today" (Deuteronomy 29:13-14). At Sinai, the entirety of the Jewish people accepted the Torah. 

However, each generation, and each individual, must renew their commitment to the covenant. The Jewish people must constantly choose to walk in the way of the LORD and to pursue his commandments. A life of covenant faithfulness is not easy but that is not what God has called the Jewish people to. God has called the Jewish people to be set apart, a people chosen to reflect the essence of God.  We are to be holy, as God is holy.  That is what the Torah is all about. 

So what is the obligation for Jewish people today? Each one of us today is bound to the same covenant to the LORD.  We have the same obligation to stand before God and continually renew our covenant commitment. For according to Deuteronomy 30:20 - "that is the purpose of our lives."

Sean Emslie

Matthew 28:16-20 - New Year, New Disciples

In this week's besora reading, we come to what is commonly referred to as "the great commission", we hear from Yeshua his final instructions to his talmidim as recorded by Matthew. 

Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them immersion, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Ruach HaKodesh: Teaching them to observe all the commandments which I have given you.

Matthew 28:19-20

In these words we hear of the responsibility for those who are talmidim of Yeshua, to go and make more talmidim.  It is easy to think that our calling from Yeshua is just to get people to believe Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah and to have people be attendees of our Messianic synagogues (both are important steps), but Yeshua calls for his disciples to do more than just make "believers" or "synagogue attendees." Yeshua call us to make others into disciples.

It is important for us to be disciples ourselves before seeking to make disciples in our world. As we come to be disciples of Yeshua, we can seek to build up our synagogues into living communities of Yeshua's disciples, synagogues that are Yeshua-believing and Torah-faithful, Jewish-faith centers. 

Once we build up ourselves and synagogues to be communities of disciples, we then are better prepared to call those in our local Jewish community and the larger Jewish world to come and join us as a disciple of the our righteous Messiah, Yeshua. It is by bringing together Yeshua faith and Torah living that we can both grow as individuals and communities to be disciples of Yeshua and communities of disciples, but also it opens us up to obey Yeshua's call to make new disciples, new Yeshua-honoring and Torah-faithful Jews.

So often this call to make talmidim, disciples of Yeshua, is seen as an act of going out of the synagogue to reach out to those yet to be followers of Yeshua. But we now stand on the brink of the new year, and the High Holy days, a time for many Jews to go to synagogue (many for the only time in the year) and we in our synagogues will be getting an influx of new people (former members, some new people looking for a place for the holydays and many of our infrequent attendees). In this opportunity we as a Messianic Jewish community will have the ability to call many more people to become talmidim of Yeshua.  Rather than having to find people to introduce to Messianic Jewish life, we will have people coming to us to observe the Holy Days and we can show them a Torah-faithful, Yeshua-honoring community of talmidim that they can belong to and within which they can thrive.

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT VAYYELEKH